TALK & GAME

Conceptualization

Xiaoman Ren

65 Maximiliana

By Max Ernst

Punisher: Le Degré 41 (Iliazd), Paris

©Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

Conceptualizing and designing my project

I think it is a good idea to start projects by researching the area to develop ideas, seek knowledge and to determine what already exists.

“To start, I ask myself a question before I start: What am I interested in?”

I will begin creating my work by thinking about my primary interests.

If my project involves my interests, it may already involve something I have the expertise and emotional excitement with.

An example:

I am interested in dance and new technology!

My research question is:

“How is new technology influence the choreography of a dance performance?”

Useful tools

Now I start a broad research.

For “dance and new technology”, it is good to research in chronological order.

I have a good example from visual artist and new media designer, Vibha Kulkarni of a time line, which helped her to dive into intense research that leads to innovative ways of creating immersive experiences.

To know more, click here.

1895

Title: Annabelle Serpentine Dance

A short film realized for kinetoscope

1968

The first augmented reality modules

by American engineer Ivan Sutherland

2016

title: DUST

by a group Prague-based independent artists

Andrej Boleslavský, Mária Júdová, Patricia Okenwa, etc.

If my topic is about “the choreography of gender: masculinity, femininity in wedding dance tradition”, I think it is a good idea for me to research geographically.

In this case, I will use mapping.

If my topic is about “body image in belly dance”, it might be a good idea to conduct a series interviews.

For example, I plan to interview 7 belly dancers in Amman, addressing issues of body image and gender identity. In this case, I will create a mood board of the interviews with many names, photos, and videos.

Document my discoveries

After broad research, I become familiar with the terminology of the area.

I also have many interesting discoveries!

I will try to write them down.

My unique perspective

At this stage, I have decided my research question is: How is new technology influence the choreography of a dance performance?

As I conceptualize my project, I will try and think about my unique perspective in relation to our ideas, and think about how I can best communicate our idea to our audience.

I am trying to be as original as possible.

I ask myself what to use?

Stage lighting
Background projection
Screens: Smartphone, Tablet, TV, Computer
Projection mapping
Augmented reality
Virtual reality
Game consoles
Dance software, dance app
Interactive costumes
Online Platform
Audio-visual
Video conference

I ask myself which direction to choose?

Dance games
Dance learning
Collaboration across distance
Interactive/participatory with audience
Dancers interact with technology, such as projection, robots, hologram
Audience experiencing a translation of dance in the form of audio or visual
Dance sonic costume, dance sonic props

by Fredrik “Benke” Rydman

7 September 2018

Key Questions

Why (purpose)
Who (involving)
How (tech enabler)
When (phase)
Where (platform)

Let’s answer Why:

Collaboration across the world beyond time and space
Encourage diverse collaboration beyond art
Using limitation/boundaries as a method of chorography
To address the way a dancer perceive him or herself
The impact of technology on the nature of movement

Let’s answer Who:

Dancer
Audience

Let’s answer Where:

Stage
Virtual space

Let’s answer How:

Virtual reality
Kinetic game

Let’s answer When:

Learning & experiment
Choreograph
Performance

Write my concept note

Now I will start to write a paper about my research.

Here I would love to share with you a template of the concept note for your project.

Part 1: Title

Part 2: Body

Background – present relevant contextual material
My topic – explain the focus of the paper and your specific purpose
Create my mood board with names, texts, images, videos, audios
1 or 2 case studies of the most inspiring related projects done by someone else, summarize, analyze, explain, and evaluate these cases
My findings – feel free to present your findings in tables, charts, graphs
My production plan
My budget

Part 3: Reference

primary vs. secondary sources, suggestions from your instructor

Download

Concept Note Template.doc

Bonus – Examples of an in-depth case study

During my research, what are my favorite projects done by other people?

It is the first virtual reality Ballet in the World – NIGHT FALL (360° video) by Dutch National Ballet.

360° VR Ballet

We can watch this First VR Ballet show on the mobile app of Youtube on the smartphones.

But for the best experience, it is recommend that audiences use Samsung Gear VR or a smartphone in combination with a Cardboard.

Title: Night Fall

by Dutch National Ballet

September 2016

The story behind VR Ballet

Like with many classical ballet pieces, Night Fall opens with a group of ballerinas. Unlike known ballets this dance doesn’t take place on stage but in a warehouse.

And we the audience isn’t watching from our seats, but are actually part of the piece.

In September 2016, the Dutch National Ballet, the Netherlands’ Nationale Opera & Ballet based in Amsterdam, paved a new path in the world of classical dance by releasing the first-ever VR ballet.

The haunting short piece transports viewers into a magical reality led by a single violinist, using creative lighting, sound, specialized choreography, and even CGI to deliver a fully immersive experience.

Nationale Opera & Ballet’s marketing manager Harm-Jan Keizer explains that the ballet was first conceived in September 2015 after the company was first exposed to VR by watching a piece of Orchestra.

“After a few minutes you started to feel bored, because you were just there standing on a stage,” he tells The Creators Project over the phone. “You felt like you were a ghost in a place where you didn’t really belong. Nobody was looking at you.”

— Harm-Jan Keizer

VAN Beethoven project

by Los Angeles Philharmonic

2015

With that in mind, the company decided to create a 360° video where the dancers perform—and, in a way, directly interact—with the viewer.

“If you create a ballet, you create it for stage,” Harm-Jan Keizer says.

“As a dancer, you have one focus point, and that’s the audience. But if you’re working for virtual reality, then depending on where you are in the room, you have to change your direction. The choreography should really be different. So we realized we had to make something new. A new ballet.”

Audience reaction

So far, Night Fall has been a success, and not just with art critics. It has garnered attention from tech blogs and dance publications alike, bringing a diverse crowd together.

“People were all blown away,” Nationale Opera & Ballet’s marketing manager Harm-Jan Keizer says, remembering some of the early reactions to the immersive video. “For most [viewers], it was the first time they ever saw something in virtual reality or the first time they’ve experienced ballet, because it was open to everyone.”

“It is a good way to get people interested in ballet,” Harm-Jan Keizer continues, commenting on the fact that classical ballet is usually viewed as niche in today’s world.

“If you present it in a way [using] virtual reality, and people are interested in that, then they might be more open to it. They see what ballet can be. Then they might be interested in seeing it in real life.”

Who is the choreographer?

Choreographer Peter Leung created this unique experience for Dutch National Ballet.

The choreography is inspired by the famous “white acts” from Swan Lake, La Bayadère and Les Sylphides, which are regarded as the purest form of ballet, with a unique and magical atmosphere.

The music was especially composed for the film by Robin Rimbaud (Scanner) and is performed by violinist Pieter van Loenen. Dutch National Ballet created Night Fall in co-production with &samhoud media and Chester Music. The film is powered by Samsung.

Choreographic video game

This isn’t the first time Dutch National Ballet has been on the foreground of changing the way society views ballet, making it more accessible to different audiences by using new media.

In fact, they’ve prided themselves on their innovation for decades.

“In the 70s, we were one of the first companies who included video of live performances,” Nationale Opera & Ballet’s marketing manager Harm-Jan Keizer says. “A couple of years ago we created a video game for the smartphone. We really saw that this was in line with those projects.”

Video game website – here

How to play – here

This game is for two players, with choreography by the Dutch National Ballet.

Twist and twirl elegantly, or get entangled with a friend.

Holding either end of a device, you tilt the device around a virtual sphere following a path of rings.

You swing your arms and twist your body, and before you know it, you are already dancing.

Bounden was featured on the New York Times, the Guardian, BBC, The Verge, Mashable, Kotaku, GiantBomb, Joystiq, Destructoid, and many others.

What’s more?

Beyond just this VR piece, the Dutch National Ballet uses other technology, namely the internet, to pique the interest of non-connoisseurs.

They were one of the first companies to create a successful Instagram, deliver extensive live-streaming experiences, and even take on viral phenomena, with the most recent example being their magical “mannequin challenge” to promote their performance of the old favorite, Coppelia.

*Mannequin Challenge: It is a viral Internet video trend which became popular in November 2016, in which people remain frozen in action like mannequins while a moving camera films them. The hashtag #MannequinChallenge was used for popular social media platforms such as Twitter and Instagram.

Mannequin challenge

by Dutch National Ballet

2016

Why use new technology?

Now the Dutch National Ballet are working on longform VR pieces, whether they be adaptations of classic ballets or more modern work.

“Ballet has this exclusive thing to it,” Nationale Opera & Ballet’s marketing manager Harm-Jan Keizer explains. “We have a theater with 1,600 seats and there are like 200 performances a year. That’s your limit. That’s how many people you can reach with this art form.

But with the whole internet, and all the possibilities that are out there, you have the opportunity to get in touch with more people and reach out to more people with the art form, and also to show what it takes to be a ballet company. What it takes to be a dancer, what it takes to be a choreographer.”

“If you’re only going to a performance, then you don’t see the work, the amount of training, the amount of work of the costume department, the people who are working behind-the-scenes. You don’t see it when you’re only seeing a performance,” he says. “Platforms like YouTube, Facebook, and all the other big social media give a great opportunity for us to show what the art form is about.”

The company, however, isn’t just using apps and social media to entertain an adult audience, but to teach younger people, some of most active innovation consumers, about the so-called archaic art form. “What we’re trying to do now is create education programs to go to schools — especially schools which are further away from Amsterdam—to get kids and young people who can’t come to a theater and giving them the opportunity with virtual reality to experience the beauty of ballet,” he says. “We want to show that we are part of society, part of the world, and make it accessible for everyone. We really see that as part of our mission as a ballet company.”

Bonus – Game – Make 6 things

I discovered this game from the book A Choreographer’s Handbook by Jonathan Burrows.

It is a book for anyone interested in making performance, at whatever level and in whichever style.

You can find game in Chapter: – Continuity / Sectional pieces / Material / Make six things / of A Choreographer’s Handbook.

Step 1

Use 6 small objects and make an installation, placing them in the right order.

*Installation: Installations are often three-dimensional works that are desiand sculpture is that installations focuses more on the arrangement use, use of space and surrounding environment within the artwork. While sculptures usually focuses on the main gned to transform the perception of a space. The main difference between installation subject. Sculptures thus is not site specific, usually are not seen with surrounding environment as a whole.

Step 2

Add one idea that breaks our expectation of what’s happening. Tell us about your installation. What does it mean?

Step 3

Then try making 6 movements and putting them in the right order to represent your installation.

Remember if you have an idea you want to pursue and you want to show it in movement, then you had better find the right language to say it.

Some of the outcomes from participants

We had 23 emerging young artists, semi- professional and amateur artists of performing arts, visual arts background, arts education background participating in this inculcation program.

The participants were given training in the art of choreography with skills development in directing, researching, presentation, leadership, and production. Participants are encouraged to think critically about dance performance from the point of view of makers, performers, audiences, and society. They are also encouraged to research – in various forms – online, at the library, in archives, via interviews etc.

To know more, click here.

The images below are some of the outcomes of the “Make 6 things” game.